‘Tottenham have a star in the making’ – Ex-Spurs Scout: Three things I learned in 2-2 v Arsenal
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham earned their first point at the Emirates Stadium since 2019 courtesy of Sunday’s (24 September) 2-2 draw with their noisy neighbours Arsenal.
Spurs are notoriously poor in away fixtures versus the Gunners, chalking up just two victories on their travels against their fierce rivals in the Premier League era.
The draw felt in some ways like a win and is a sign that Ange Postecoglou is making good progress in the infancy of his tenure in North London.
There was a lot to dissect from a match full of goals, cards, debatable penalty decisions and VAR drama, and ex-Spurs scout Bryan King has provided his expert opinion on the match to Tottenham News, detailing three things Spurs’ performance revealed.
Destiny Udogie can become a real player
“That boy Udogie, he could become a real player, a star in the making. It’s not every day you’re going to go up against a player of the quality that Bukayo Saka has, which was a job in itself, but for him to still look to get forward and whip those little passes into James Maddison and Son-Heung min, I just think he played with a great confidence.”
It was certainly the most difficult test of Udogie’s Tottenham career thus far, as he went one-on-one with one of the league’s best wingers. While Saka did get the better of him in some of the game’s early exchanges, Udogie did very well to keep him quiet as the match went on, especially as he was on a yellow card throughout most of it.
The Italy Under-21 international made eight tackles and four clearances, while completing 86 per cent of his passes (Sofascore).
Life doesn’t get any easier for the left-back as he will now get set to go up against Mohamed Salah when Tottenham face Liverpool next week.
Son-Heung min is ready to step up
“I’ve always liked Son, he works hard, and this might be the making of him. With Harry Kane gone, the spotlight is on him now. He has the opportunity to play up top on his own, with James Maddison behind him and the full-backs pushing on.”
Kane was Spurs’ talisman for years and now Son has the chance to take on the mantle, especially as the club’s captain. He had a slow start to the season, but since moving into the central striker position he has five goals in three games and is brimming with confidence.
His performance against the Gunners was one of his most iconic in Lilywhite colours. He scored twice with two excellent first-time finishes, created one big chance, completed 93 per cent of his passes, and was arguably the best player on the pitch.
Tottenham look confident
“I just think they played with confidence in the team, and they looked as though they were ready for the fight. Everybody was saying this match was going to be one-sided, and maybe for 25 minutes it was one-sided, but the more the game went on, the more Tottenham became a decent opposition, and I thought Arsenal were the ones making the mistakes, for example when Jorginho gave the ball away for Spurs’ second goal.”
The early evidence certainly points to Postecoglou turning the team’s fortunes around, and this performance reinforced that the players are fully behind their manager and his way of playing.
To come back twice in a North London derby shows grit and determination and, in the end, Spurs saw more of the ball, controlling 53 per cent of possession, something that very few teams go to the Emirates and do.
The confidence within the team is certainly building and it will be interesting to see how they fare with another real test against Liverpool next time out.
In other Tottenham news, King has provided his Tottenham player ratings from the draw with Arsenal.